Now that I've seen this film in its original glorious color -- It's NOT a science fiction B movie at all, but a very good tale of a male/female battle of wills superseded by a battle between humans and nature. The human threat is redheaded, and the ants - the threat from nature - are red. Red Scare, anyone? Eleanor Parker is accomplished, elegant, and ravishing. (Perhaps it strains credibility that anyone would have the luck to send off for a 'mail order' bride and get HER.) Heston looks good too. His acting must have improved later with the help of William Wyler: he and Parker were only 2 years apart in age, but he comes across as a greenhorn by comparison. But he's as magnetic as ever and the direction and script are top drawer. It's also a pleasure to look at the mores of the 1900s through the filter of 50s Hollywood.
Review of The Naked Jungle
